June 2012 Archives

Even though the divorce rate in the United States has leveled, the rate of divorce among baby boomers has increased over the last two decades. According to a study conducted by Bowling States University, the divorce rate among people age 50 and older has doubled in 20 years. Today, one out of four people age 50 and older are divorced, and in 1990 less than one in 10 people who were age 50 and older were divorced.

If U.S. Department of Labor investigators show up at your place of business throughout the Worcester, Massachusetts, area, you should have a plan already in place for just such an event. The legal department should be the first call in that plan. Obviously, corporate and outside counsel, company executives, human resources staff, and the appointee who will interface with the DOL should be notified.

A recent lawsuit was brought by a Massachusetts homeowner who was seeking to void her home foreclosure based on her argument that the loan servicer collecting payments did not have the underlying promissory note in which to legally foreclose on her property. The case has garnered national attention as the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court could have implicated thousands of pending foreclosures in the state based on mortgage and title issues.

While stories about celebrities and sports stars and their issues probably appear too frequently in the media, the stories sometimes provide a lesson to non-celebrities in similar situations. NBA star Dwyane Wade recently asked a judge to suspend his former wife's child visitation rights after she allegedly violated the former couple's child custody order. A violation of a child custody order can potentially result in the loss of custody rights and more depending on the situation.

When employees sign a non-compete agreement with their employers as a condition of their employment or separation, it is imperative that they follow it to the letter of the law. Some of our readers in Massachusetts may be thinking about getting back into the job market after taking a requisite break from their industry of choice, but heed this lesson in employment contracts and clauses that two bankers learned the hard way.

By Robert S. Adler, Paul J. O'Riordan of Seder & Chandler, LLP posted in Mortgage on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.

The real estate tracking firm the Warren Group is at it again, reporting that total Massachusetts mortgage activity has increased more than 28 percent for this year compared to the same period last year. Although home sales have added to the increase, the real news in the increased numbers is the refinance mortgage activity, according to the group's CEO, Timothy Warren.

One of the hardest subjects after a divorce concludes is how to handle the relationships and emotions involved in shared child custody. It takes time for both parents and children to adjust to a new "normal", but there are certain things that parents can do to ease the transition.

Worcester County, Massachusetts had a total of 302 petitions for foreclosures in the month of April. That figure is up 42 percent from the same month last year, according to The Warren Group, which tracks residential real estate transactions in the state. A petition for foreclosure is the first step in the foreclosure process. Statewide, Massachusetts had 1,750 foreclosure petitions, up 47 percent over the year.

When it comes to divorce and property division, retirement accounts often get overlooked. Since the divorce rate for individuals age 50 and older is at an all time high, it is more important than ever to understand the rules that govern the division of retirement accounts in divorce.

Whether you watch television on a Dish or DirecTV satellite, through your cable provider, Netflix, the Internet, or the old fashion way with rabbit ears, wouldn't it be great to watch our favorite TV show without commercials? Don't all of us in Massachusetts wish we didn't have to interrupt plot lines with those loud, pesky ads?

The director of the HomeCorps program says the program is a hit in that it has fielded almost 3,000 calls as of late April, opened 1,865 case files and prevented "dozens" of foreclosures since it began assisting distressed homeowners. The staff of six expects to triple in size due to the demand for mortgage help from Massachusetts homeowners.

As we enter the graduation season and send our young adults out into the world, we thought we'd share this story of a resourceful young businessman with our Worcester, Massachusetts, readers. As a recent high school grad, the 19-year-old put off college and accepted an internship at the AOL offices in California. He was part of a new initiative created to support entrepreneurship in the educational field.

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